DAILY DEVOTIONAL – June 16, 2020
“Behind the Signs“
Prayer: Gracious Lord Jesus, we stand in awe of Your great power and compassion as You worked so many miracles of mercy during Your ministry here on earth. We know and trust that You still work Your same ministry of mercy even today and in our lives. We ask that You give us the faith that is sure of the hope we have in You and certain of Your faithful presence and power. Amen.
Scripture: Matthew 16:1-4
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”
Devotional – “Behind the Sign”
As you drive along any major road or highway, there are an endless array of signs, arrows, billboards and other markers that deliver a slew of information in trying to direct our attention and tell us where to go. We don’t think about them much because we are so used to seeing them and using them, especially when using GPS, but could you imagine the chaos that would ensue if all of those signs weren’t there?
Signs are important, not because the sign itself is important, but because the sign points to something of greater significance. Take for example a stop sign. The reason we follow the stop signs’ instructions to stop in a specific place is not because there is something at the sign that is important, but rather, the sign is pointing to something beyond itself. Specifically, the stop sign is pointing to the oncoming traffic that threatens to crash into you if you do not stop where the sign says.
It is very much the same for the signs and wonders, the miracles, that Jesus performed. Although the incredible miracles Jesus did were no doubt amazing in and of themselves, the whole point to them and the reason Jesus performed them was to point to something else, something much more significant that lay beyond the miracle itself. Jesus did not perform miracles to reveal how powerful He was, but rather, He gave so many signs and wonders to serve as arrows, to point to and reveal who He was. His turning water into wine and calming the stormy seas and multiplying the fish and loaves pointed to His being the Word of God that was with God and who was God in the beginning before the creation of all things; and by whom all things were created (John 1). Jesus casting out demons revealed and pointed to Jesus’ holiness, righteousness and power over evil. Jesus’ miraculous life that was lived in perfect obedience to the Father proved His power over temptation and sin. Jesus giving sight to the blind, healing the sick and raising the dead proved His power over the devastating effects and consequences of sin. The sign of Jonah, Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world, being buried and rising on the third day proved beyond a doubt that He was in fact the true Son of God and worthy sacrifice to be our Savior from sin, death and the devil.
The reason the religious leaders in our text for today (the Sadducees and Pharisees) were criticized and called wicked and adulterous was because instead of believing in who Jesus clearly was as evidenced by the many signs and miracles He had already performed up to this point, they were just out to “test” Him, or in other words, challenge His claims to be the Son of God and make Him dance to the tune of their own drum. No different from when the devil tried to make Jesus perform miracles to end His own suffering in the wilderness. But our faithful Lord Jesus would have none of it from either the Devil or the religious elite. He was and is the true Son of God, and He did not need the approval of corrupt men in order to know who He Himself was or to prove it to anyone that was not willing to see the truth.
After Jesus performed His first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and after cleansing the temple immediately after, John tells us in his Gospel that, “many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” A faith that is based on, or a faith that hopes only in the spectacular is a shallow and hopeless faith. Much like the crowds that ran after Jesus only because He fed the 5,000 with a fish and two loaves of bread – they were only following Jesus to have their stomachs filled. Jesus told that crowd in John 6, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
To worship our stomachs, or our eyes, or our hands, or anything else in this world that is only capable of dazzling our senses is to have a wicked and adulterous faith, as it worships ourselves rather than our Creator and Savior. The truth is friends, even if Jesus were to have turned one of the religious elite that tested Him into a toad…the others would not have believed. The truth is friends, even if Jesus were to somehow miraculously solve all of our problems and illnesses and bring a miraculous end to all the world’s problems and sufferings, that would never be enough to make anyone put their faith and trust in Jesus; in our sinfulness it would only prompt us to demand more and more just to appease our flesh.
Out of His love and care even for the religious authorities that despised Him, and out of His love and care and desire to save you and I as well, Jesus said the only sign that would be given would be the sign of Jonah. The only sign that matters, because it is the only sign that proves and reveals Jesus to be the One True Savior of the World. The sign of the empty tomb. What bigger miracle could there possibly be given in order to believe in Jesus? There is no amount of miraculous bread, there are not enough storms to be stilled, and there are not enough eyes to be healed that compare with the splendor of the miracle that is empty tomb of Christ risen from the dead.
I’m not sure we often enough remember the miracle that we hold in our hands already. The miracle of the very Word of God. The miracle that it has endured countless attempts by authorities and militaries and governments to banish it all together. The miracle that God has given us His Word and ensured its accessibility so that at anywhere and at any time we can have fellowship with Him so that He can minister to our hearts through the miracle of His Holy Spirit present with us through that Word. Jesus said in John 8, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And the apostle Paul said in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith does not come through miracles, but through hearing the Word of Christ, and by God’s grace and provision, believing that Word and trusting in Christ.
So, as you drive home today from work and look at the many signs that direct your way, remember that God has so graciously provided the biggest sign and miracle of them all…the sign of Christ’s empty tomb. Christ’s victory for you and for me.
God bless you all, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow.
